Read Online Thorazine Beach by Bradley Harris - Free Book Online Page A

handed me a larger-than-usual envelope, flap open. Cheque. Twelve hundred dollars and change, for the divorce case. Two months at the Benbow. Or a month plus eats and gas, maybe even a few revenue stamps for my collection. She passed it along with a card, in a pretty, perfect hand, turquoise fountain pen. Simple.
Thank you, Jack, for a wonderful job. Please know we love you
…
Eileen
.
    I didn’t know anyone loved me.
    Deep breath. “I’m sorry, Eileen. I owe you better. I’m just…”
    “Tired,” she filled in.
    “Not an excuse,” I said.
    “No,” she said. “But perhaps a cause. She’s been pestering you with calls?”
    “No,” I told her. “Just emails.”
    “Well, good. Because I didn’t give her your phone number, Jack.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Not yet, anyway.”
    “And what would prompt you to give her my number?”
    “Your consent.”
    “Why would I give that?”
    “Because I’m asking.”
    “Asking because…”
    “Because she…needs…and because, well…
you
need.”
    “You don’t mean…”
    She looked at me querulously, then the realization broke across her face. “That I’m playing matchmaker? No. Definitely. No. Good God, no. Didn’t even think of that angle. Didn’t think you’d think…
I’m
sorry, Jack.”
    “No sorries required, Eileen. If what you say is true. And if Barbara Jean McCorkle has the same understanding.”
    “She’s happily…she’s married, Jack.”
    “Still married to…”
    “Um…far as I know, Jack.” She knew, all right.
    “So what does she want, Eileen?”
    “You know Barbara Jean,” Eileen said. “She’s not happy unless she’s helping.”
    “‘Helping.’ Like the Boy Scout who helped the little old lady across the street—”
    “—even though she didn’t want to go.” Eileen laughed. “That
is
true. The thing of it is, I guess, is that she’s not happy unless she’s
involved
.”
    “Involved in what?”
    “Well, in…giving to people. Doing things for people.
You
know…”
    “Back to the question. What does she want?”
    “Well, I think she really does want to…to see you…to help you if she can…to…”
    “Bring me a casserole?”
    Eileen laughed again. “If she gives you a choice, go for the green bean with the almonds and the crunchy cracker crust. It’s pretty good. It’s a hit around our house…my house.” Her smile faded, took a few seconds to come back.
    “I’ll remember that,” I answered.
    “Of course, the thing about casseroles…” she said.
    “Is what?”
    “Well, you’ve got to wash the dish. Then you’ve got to give it back.”
    “Barbara Jean McCorkle and I are not
just
going to slurp a thirty-minute Americano at Starbucks, are we?”
    “Umm…I expect not.”
    “There’s going to be a whole…
thing
here, isn’t there?”
    We both started to laugh. “Yeah,” she said. “I reckon there is.”
    I made my smile go away. “One more time, back to the question. What…” Big, dramatic pause. “does she want?”
    “Bring you a little cheer. A casserole, maybe?”
    “That’s
to
me, Eileen. What does she want…” I love pauses. “
from
me?”
    There’s a certain look crosses Eileen’s face when she’s about to say something glib or smartass. Whatever it was Les had fallen in love with, it surely included that. “
Other
than her casserole dish back,” I said.
    “Just some information, Jack. Just that. I think.”
    “And whatever that…
information
is, Eileen, I presume it’s not the sort can be gathered from a desk and a phone and a high-speed internet connection.”
    “No.”
    “How much do you know?” I asked.
    “Truly, Jack, next to nothing. I asked, but you know Barbara Jean—she did all the talking.”
    I nodded. “Way less informative than it was long.”
    “She came in at four that day,” Eileen said. “And we weren’t out till seven.”
    “And she said…?”
    “Like I say, next to nothing. There was something she wanted you to ‘look into’.” A big